Start Spreadin' (and Sharin') the News

OK fellow knitters and travelers.

I am leaving for the Big Apple and the Nation's Capitol in a few days. I need to know which yarn stores I must not miss. (As I will be traveling with muggles there will be limited yarn store time.) Also, after my mad finishing spree I have found myself with a very limited number of WIPs. Any suggestions for some good airplane and train knitting? No sweaters. . . I am holding out. Of course will be taking some socks, but WHAT ELSE?

Last but not least. Princess P. is having a contest to see who can guess
1. W's birth date
2. The hour and min he will choose to arrive
3. His weight and height

She doesn't know what the prizes will be yet, but she owns a darling boutique that includes both knitting and non-knitting goodies, I expect they (there will be three winners) will be very fun. Click on over and give it a go.

A Dresser and a Sweater to go in it

The dresser is done, well except that missing pull, but that will be easily fixed (and yes, I will fix it and soon.) I must say I am just pleased as punch with it. The color in this photo is pretty accurate, it's perhaps a tad brighter. It looks perfect with the alien's bedding.



And the alien also has a sweater to go in his new dresser. This is yet again the Easy Baby Cardigan from Knitting Pure and Simple. Of course you can see that I didn't make it a cardigan. I also changed the hood, knitting it from the bottom up instead of from the top down as the pattern calls for. I like a more gradually increasing hood. I used a provisional cast on for the hood, so there was no picking up for the sweater. I also gave it a bit of a V-neck collar.


The yarn is Plymoth's Suri Merino (55% alpaca, 45% merino.) I used nearly all of 2 balls of color # 402 and about a third of a ball of color # 1654. I knit it on size US 7 (4.5 mm) needles. In the newborn size, which is barely smaller than the 6 month size (so it's not itty bitty Mom!) The Duke chose the yarn and made all of the design decisions. I think the little boy will love wearing the sweater his Daddy designed!



And last but not least, as promised, The Beach Bib pattern has been posted to Yarrnation Patterns. You'll notice that I'm making some changes,I'm not sure I'm happy with them. The PDF's are not of the quality that I would like, but they are usable. Enjoy the pattern, and be sure to send me links to photos if you knit one (or if you're like me, six, working on seven.)

I am in so much TROUBLE!

Good Grief!

Jumble of Stuff

1. Ravelry is pretty cool. I think I suffered a bit from the build-up, but there really is nothing like it or even close to it. My favorite feature is that you can search for a book and any of the patterns that anyone on the site has knit (and some that no one has) come up and you can click and see it knit 'for real', read what other knitters thought about it, ect.

2. Remember this?


I've been working on it.

Here it is sanded (sorry for the terribly bright pics, mid-day sun and a funky camera)



Primed



Painted



And later tonight we should see the finished project. I am just waiting for the 7 drawer pulls to dry- yes I said 7, I accidentally only bought 7 instead of 8, so another trip to Home Depot to pick up a $1.29 pull. I'm, naturally, blaming it on pregnancy.

3. What's this



Well, I think it's another nearly completed baby sweater. The one the Duke 'designed' if I'm not mistaken. Look for a FO coming soon to a Yarnnation near you.

4. I want to express my appreciation to Crocs.
It may seem a little strange to you to publicly thank a shoe company. Perhaps, but let me explain. NONE of my shoes fit, literally not a single pair. I can only wear flip flops. Next month the Duke and the alien and I are off to NYC. Now, having been to NYC before, the idea of walking around the glorious (if a bit grimy) city in flip flops was grossing me out. My friend Lucy came to visit me on Sunday. She was wearing some very cute Mary Jane Crocs. She let me try her's on, and what do you know, THEY FIT!!! I went out the next day and procured two pair, one black, one brown. I think I am also going to have to order a pair in red. Thank you Lucy and thank you Crocs! I will not be walking around NYC with my bare feet only 1/4 inch from the streets.

5. On this same shopping excursion I walked past a display in Nordstrom's and saw something that caught my eye. . . a mannequin with a very cute duster on.

Something like this (image from Nordstroms)


Then I got my Real Simple Magazine.
and it has an article about cardigans in it. I open it and I see


(image from Liy McNeal)

and this,
(image from Land's End - I know it's a tiny pic, click on the link to see it up close, it's a beautiful sweater.)



and I think back about 5 or so years ago, the last time long sweaters were in style. At that time I thought to myself, "Self, you don't want to buy ALL that yarn, and knit that GIANT sweater for weeks and weeks just to have it not be in style next year."

And I wonder if I will be able to convince myself again.

And I remember this from this, and I doubt it.

6. The Duke and I are 1/4 of the way through the last Harry Potter. Yes, I know we are sadly behind, and that is fine. From the time the very first book came out when the Duke and I had just started dating, we have read each of them (with one exception when we were living in different cities) together. He reads out loud to me in the evenings while I knit. It is one of our very favorite past times, and we especially enjoy it with Harry Potter. So, don't talk to me about the book or I'll scream- oh yes, and as my poor family has found out, don't call me after about 6:30 pm Pacific Coast time for the next week and a half. I won't want to talk to you. :)

Raveling. . . .

I got my invitation today!!! Unfortunately, I have to go take my car in to have it's tires balanced, but I will report back later tonight or tomorrow!

If you haven't added your name to the list yet, do it here.

Out of the Loop

I go away for a few days and then take a few more days to get caught up and all sorts of crazy things happen. . . . Like Georgia of Yarn Pirate announcing that she is pregnant! AHHHHH. I also learned today that all my LiveJournal friends haven't taken an extended leave of absense from the blogging world, but that Bloglines isn't playing nicely with LiveJournal. Lame. I may have to switch to another reader. SUGGESTIONS???


I continue on my slow but stead baby stuff acquisition. Princess P. sent the alien two adorable car seat blankets. She even crocheted around the edges herself. Impressive! What a sweet sister and aunt!



For those of you who have never seen the geometry of these things, they look like this, the slits in the middle are for the car seat straps to go through.



I also purchased a wooden dresser from a second hand store for a very good price and will sand and paint it to match the bedding that we AT LONG LAST agreed upon for the nursery.





I was leaning more toward something modern and graphical, but the Duke really wanted something fun for baby. I love my Duke, and this is really cute, and I couldn't find anything I liked a lot better (that we could afford) and I am too tired to try to make anything. So be it.

Problem Solved!

First attempt to fix the missing cord problem- not successful.

A second trip to Best Buy

A new little gadget and the problem is solved. Thank Goodness.

There has been a lot of knitting going on here, as there has been very little of anything else going on.

Isn't this a sweet little sweater for the alien, I have enough yarn to knit a matching one for cousin "W" so they can have pictures taken in matching sweaters this winter. How terribly adorable will that be?


Did someone say bibs? I just finished #5. It's my own design with short-row shaping near the top which creates a cute neck line and brings the neck straps together in a triangle.


Now they just need buttons.


I really love this pattern. I'll type it up and post it on Yarnnation Patterns.


I finished a cute little hat for the alien.


There has also been a little activity in the acquisitions department.

Some heavyweight Socks that Rock for the Queen, who needed a little yarny happiness to cheer her up.


The Duke picked out some Suri Merino from Plymouth (55% Suri Alpaca, 45% Merino) for the alien's next sweater. Yes, this will be a very well dressed little boy.



And what is this? It's a highchair. . .

No! It's a rocking horse. . .

No, it's a writing desk. . . OH WAIT
It's a very clever Amish Built 3 in 1 piece of furniture that that Duke and I just love. Isn't it just about the cooleset thing you have ever seen?


And just to round things out, flowers!

OK, off to knit a bit more before bed!

Foto Frustration

I am very frustrated! I've lost the cord that allows me to transfer photos from my digital camera to my computer. I've looked everywhere for it. Yesterday I went to buy a new one and the guy at Bestbuy sold me a thing that looks like a jump drive instead that you plug your camera's memory card into, sounds great, right? Right, except my camera's memory card it too big to fit into it.

AHHHHHHHHHHH

I'll return to blogging when I resolve this situation.

I'm here, I haven't roasted yet.

I'm still here, or rather, I have returned.

The Duke, the alien and I spent the last week in Seaside, OR with the Duke's family. It's a yearly trip that we always greatly enjoy. I did take my camera, but didn't even pull it out of my bag, so no pictures. Seaside has been well documented though, and you can enjoy a bit of the beauty here if you so desire.


This is what we see from the window of condos that we stay in. Lovely, no?

The best part about Seaside is the temperature. It was between 68 and 75 degrees F. (20-24 C.) the entire time we were there. PERFECT! It was not so nice to return to 96 F. (36 C.) Seattle yesterday. The dogs and I spent the day trying to keep cool which included a trip to Lake Washington where even Logan went swimming without me throwing him in, watering all the plants in the backyard while periodically watering ourselves, going to get a Slurpee (it was 7-11 day,) and hiding in the bedroom, the only air conditioned room in our house.

Even the alien is too hot. He doesn't move unless we are in an air conditioned room or car, poor alien. He's probably half boiled. It sure feels like it. No matter how much ice water I drink or how long I sit directly in front of the air conditioner, my belly still feels like it's overheating. BLECH!

Anyway, on to knitting news, there was a lot of vacation knitting accomplished, and I will show it off in the next day or two. I also purchased some vacation yarn and the Duke and I made a very very cool acquisition for the alien, I can't wait to show you.

In the mean time, Princess P. and PBTB went for a 3-D ultrasound. If you want previews of little W. check our her blog!

I'll take what ever I can get. . .

Sarah sent me a link to this study that suggests that nausea and vomiting in pregnanacy indicates a decreased risk for breast cancer. Hey, just goes to show that there is always a silver lining, even if I still feel like throwing up.

Thanks Sarah!